The Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) has passed another resolution for our children’s textbooks. The most recent resolution from Friday, September 24th was for the Social Studies textbooks. The SBOE passed a resolution on the balanced treatment of religious groups in textbooks (as stated on the official agenda). The minutes of this meeting have not been posted on the TEA website, but you can listen to the meeting by visiting http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index4.aspx?id=3876.
You can also read this resolution that was approved 7-6 by the board members, by clicking here, http://www.tea.state.tx.us/WorkArea/linkit.aspx?LinkIdentifier=id&ItemID=2147487178&libID=2147487176.
The resolution states instances where Islam is mentioned more times in the text than Christianity. Also, it talks about the wording used to describe events in history.
On the ABC News website, Gail Lowe, President of the Texas Board of Education: “…said she's been told that the textbooks treat other religions, such as Judaism, Confucianism, Sikhism and Buddhism, in the same light as Islam, but only Christianity seems to be demonized. The resolution however, does not mention any other religions besides Islam.” Lowe also commented: "’Possibly, since 9/11 people are very nervous about terrorist groups. Regrettably, most of those individuals came from Muslim countries," she said. "But I think that textbooks show that the bias existed before 9/11.’" You can read more of this article at http://abcnews.go.com/US/textbooks-pro-islam-anti-christian-texas-state-education/story?id=11697738.
What is the role of our SBOE? This is the second time this year, they have passes a resolution dealing with curriculum content in the textbooks. The Texas SBOE website states the duties of the board:
Establishing policy and providing leadership for the Texas public school system are the responsibilities of the State Board of Education. By adopting policies and setting standards for educational programs, the Board provides the direction necessary to enable Texas public schools to prepare today’s schoolchildren for a successful future.
Feel free to answer the questions below:
1. What do you think, should the Texas SBOE be able to decide what goes in textbooks?
2. Is the SBOE role to change curriculum?
